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Black Orchids - A Nero Wolfe Novella (Nero Wolfe, #9)

Rex Stout,

Lawrence Block (Introduction)

Start date: March 10, 2018

Finish date: April 4, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Nero Wolfe and Archie have a lot of fans in the group.
[close] Nero Wolfe and Archie have a lot of fans in the group.

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What Members Thought

Feb 03, 2018 Leslie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries

This 9th entry in the Nero Wolfe series is actually 2 separate (but connected) novellas: Black Orchids and Cordially Invited to Meet Death. The paperback cover of this one is so familiar to me that I thought I must have read it at some point (even though this is one of the books missing from my Stout collection). But these 2 novellas were both new to me!

In Black Orchids, we learn how Wolfe managed to obtain these rare flowers for his collection (it is his fee!). The murder case has some interes This 9th entry in the Nero Wolfe series is actually 2 separate (but connected) novellas: Black Orchids and Cordially Invited to Meet Death. The paperback cover of this one is so familiar to me that I thought I must have read it at some point (even though this is one of the books missing from my Stout collection). But these 2 novellas were both new to me!

In Black Orchids, we learn how Wolfe managed to obtain these rare flowers for his collection (it is his fee!). The murder case has some interesting twists & an unexpectedly macabre ending. 4*

Despite the publisher's blurb, Cordially Invited to Meet Death occurs after a long time has passed. The connection to the first story is tenuous but it is there. The woman who hires Wolfe is an event planner (not a society widow!) whose clients have been getting poison pen letters which all say that she (the party planner) is the source of the information. Regardless of whether the information is true or false, the idea that she is indiscreet would drive away most of her business. A good solid entry in the Wolfe series. 3*

Now a word about the audiobook. Michael Pritchard does a good narration -- not the best I have ever heard, but I have no problems with it. However, this edition of the audiobook had some technical flaws (well, annoyances more than actual flaws). The most irritating one was that there were often long pauses at the end of a section (20-30 seconds) - long enough that I would think that the app had crashed and have to fumble with my phone while driving to see if I needed to restart it. Eventually I figured out that I just had to wait but until I did, it was very annoying! Secondly, this digital audiobook was copied from audio cassettes and the publisher hadn't bothered to edit out the "This is the end of tape 1, please insert tape 2 to continue this audiobook"-type comments. While I would prefer not to have these, I would rather have them than no digital audiobook at all. But these issues made my ultimate rating lower than it would have been. ...more

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Mar 29, 2022 Jill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jill-s-eighth-year-challenge, rex-stout

This is in fact two books, but brought together by the very tenuous link of both including Black Orchids. The first is situated at a flower show. Wolfe, sends Archie along to look at some orchids that have black flowers. These have never been grown before, so, Wolfe wants to know everything possible about the plants, thus sending Archie back everyday. Archie doesn't mind returning every day, as he has seen a girl on one of the displays that he is very taken with. After a few days, Wolfe decides ...more

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